New Beginning
by yoyoyoyoyo
Summary: Team Kakashi was out for a simple mission. They run into a beaten Deidara. She is kidnapped by Akatsuki for unknown reasons. Can Deidara help her love again, or will it be just another rerun? Will there be a cold bench involved?
1. Innocent

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. As sad as it sounds, it is a fact. :'(**

**This might stink now, but trust me, it gets better later. I'm just not good at writing introductions, yup, so please continue reading and review while your at it. **

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"Naruto, you're so immature!" Sakura screamed as she hit him square in the arm.

"Sorry Sakura-chan! Ow! That really hurt!" Naruto complained as Sakura reminded herself not to put too much chakra into her punches.

Kakashi sensei walked on the right side of Sakura, his lazy eyes staring at his favorite book. This would just be a normal day at Konoha if it wasn't for team Kakashi going on a mission. Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai were already in the trees before noon.

This mission was a simple C-ranked mission to help a family through the woods without getting ambushed by rogue ninja. It would take a week at the most. At sundown they decided to camp out for the night. With the fire going, Sakura decided to start a conversation.

"So where are we going again, Kaka-sensei?"

"Mist", he replied still reading his stupid perverted book.

_Why was it so interesting? Maybe I'll take a peek later_, _**Inner Sakura **__thought. _Well so much for a lively conversation. Giving up, Sakura lay down and closed her jade eyes.

Morning came and Sai was already up and drawing some abstract thing. Sai was an amazing artist. Sakura knew this by experience. Naruto stirred which shook Sakura out of her thoughts. "Everybody ready?" a voice from behind said.

"Yea, we'll leave as soon as Naruto's packed," Sakura said as she packed her last kunai.

Five minutes later they were already sprinting past trees on the way to mist.

"What's so special about this family, Kaka-sensei?"

"They are very distinguished people who own a gold industry. That is why the ninja are after them, to steal some of their goods," he explained lazily in a drawn out manner.

"Maybe they'll give us a little gold reward for our hard work!" Naruto gave a wicked grin at Sakura, who just rolled her eyes.

"Like they would give anything to you, Naruto!" Sakura blurted out.

"Well, it's worth a try!"

"Naruto, if you make us all look like a bunch of idiots, your head will be the centerpiece on my dining table!" Naruto knew not to piss Sakura off, or it would lead to bad places.

For the rest of the way there, Naruto kept his mouth shut firmly.

They reached a small village with rice fields. Naruto growled.

This was where Orochimaru took Sasuke to train him to become strong enough to beat his brother, Itachi. Sakura tried not to shed any tears at the thought of the cold stone bench, Sasuke left her on that night. That is why she sought out Tsunade-shishou, to make her stronger so that that would never happen again. Actually, all of them did.

She did because she didn't want to be hurt, physically or emotionally. Now, as a very well known medic of Konoha, and student of one of the Sannins, she was in the bingo books. She was known also for her epic fight against Sasori of the Red Sand, alongside Lady Chiyo. It's not hard to forget of a pink-haired kunoichi like her.

They were disagreeing on how many should protect the family. Kaka-sensei told them that all of them have to and they need to forget about Sasuke for the time being. Naruto and Sakura fought against that. They believed that this mission only requires one jounin. This was a simple mission. Kaka-sensei knew that, but he wasn't one to go breaking the rules. Naruto, on the other hand, would do anything to bring Sasuke back. There were so many failed attempts but he thought that this time was different.

They have been walking for a while, when Sakura sensed some foul chakra. Being a medic, she was very sensitive to chakra levels. This wasn't just any chakra. She felt it before. It felt all too familiar. Like a snake's. _Snake's?_ That's not a good sign. But as fast as it appeared, it was gone.

This was both relieving and heartbreaking for Sakura. It was a chance to see Sasuke, to take in his appearance. Gone. Simply gone. Without telling the others of her sensing Sasuke's chakra, she kept walking.

"The house is right here," Kaka-sensei said tiredly. As soon as that was said, they were greeted by three people.

"Hello! I'm so glad you arrived. My name is Airi. This is my husband, Hotaka. This is my daughter, Kasumi. It is a pleasure to have you come by."

"The pleasure is all ours," Sai said.

"Yea, we can go anytime!" Naruto said impatiently.

"Okay. We're ready now. Let's go."

With that they were already heading out the door. Since the family wasn't ninjas, they had to walk without the use of chakra. Once they got out of mist and into some woods, Sakura felt that chakra again. This time it was also another type. It made explosions in the ground and this time, the others felt it too.

"Did you feel that?" Naruto whispered, too shocked to say it any louder.

"Yes, it felt like it was coming North," Sai said unemotionally.

"No matter how much you want to, we cannot check it out. We are on a mission to keep these people safe. Got it?" Kaka-sensei said sternly. He glared at the three, but kept it longest at Naruto.

"Humph! Fine!" Naruto blurted with a pouty face. Sakura was secretly very curious too. As the chakra got more noticeable, Sakura and Naruto got more curious.

"Hey Sakura-chan, we need to check the chakra out," Naruto whispered so that only she could hear it.

"But Naruto, Kaka-sensei"

"I know, but we NEED to! I'm serious. This could be our chance to save Sasuke-teme. This mission is easy enough for Sai alone, and a jounin. They can defend them for enough time for us to get a quick peek. We'll be back with Sasuke-teme before you know it!" he interrupted.

Sakura was excited. She wanted to. She needed to.

"Ugh! Fine, Naruto, you win. But only for a second!"

"_Yes_! Thank you Sakura-chan. You're awesome!"

"Yea, yea, I know I am," Sakura said quietly, "now let's go." Sneaking around a turn, they quietly sprinted to the source of the chakra.

Strangely enough the only thing left was a blonde dirty man wearing a ripped cloak lying on the ground. Sasuke's chakra was completely gone. As they approached, they hot a closer look at the man. He looked about 20, only a couple years older than her. He had some sort of scope on his left eye. He was scratched and bleeding all over his muscular body.

His whole heart region was just gone. He must have been in a really big battle to get that. Maybe it was Sasuke who he was fighting and Sasuke won and left the area. Finally her eyes averted to one thing that made them both gasp. Akatsuki cloak.

"A-an an Akatsuki?" Naruto whispered, barely audible. After that, the unexpected happened. The near dead body started breathing audible breaths. Sakura, being too considerate and caring, ran from her spot and knelt down on the side of the man. A faint green glow was emitted from her delicate little hands which could destroy mountains in one touch.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto yelled, confused to the umpteenth degree.

"He's an Akatsuki! They want to kill me!" With that she stopped healing him and looked up at Naruto.

"We need to get information from him! It's the smartest thing to do to save you, Naruto!" A strange look came from Naruto. He didn't know what to do. He knew Sakura was smarter than him, so he would put his trust in her plans, no matter how crazy they sounded. This was different, though.

"I don't know. What if he is bait or something, this could all be just a trap to get me!" Naruto seemed a little proud of himself for sounding smart.

"Ugh! Fine, let's just go back before Kaka-sensei notices our absence!" Sakura said as she stood up and brushed her knees off.

"Thank you Sakura! I know I'm not that smart, but I have a feeling that healing him wouldn't be the best idea."

You're right. You aren't smart," she giggled to Naruto. Naruto smiled sheepishly back and snorted. They sprinted away towards the rest of their team.

_Oh great! So close to healing him! Since when does Naruto sound smart like that? I don't care what he says I'm getting my information, __**Inner Sakura **__shrieked. _

For once, she listened to her inner self. Just when they caught sight of Sai, Kaka-sensei, and the family, they slowed to a jog. _Thank goodness for chakra infused speed. __**Inner Sakura **__said thankfully__**.**_That didn't take too long, did it? Well, he didn't notice them. They were 's not what Sakura came back to see, though. She just came most of the way to trick Naruto into thinking that she wasn't going to heal the Akatsuki.

As soon as Naruto's eyes left her, she used chakra to jolt backwards. This was easy since she had perfect chakra control and is an expert at hiding her chakra. Within seconds she was out of sight of her team. Within a few more seconds, she was back into the open field with the mysterious man.

She knelt down next to him and a green glow, once again, emitted from her hands. After a few minutes, she could feel a pulse from his chest. She worked hard to close up the terrible wound on his chest. She wasn't going to heal him completely, but enough for him to be able to talk properly.

A couple minutes his would was closed. It would leave a scar, but that's good, right? Everybody wants a battle scar? Anyway, he was going to have it either way. She worked in silence until a dark chuckle broke through.

"Weird, yeah? Suicidal bombs don't even work these days? I wanted to go out with a bang, yeah."

"Wait, you tried to kill yourself? You're crazy!" Sakura breathed out.

"Crazy or not, I find it respectable, yeah. By the way, who are you?" The man questioned.

"The better question is who are you? Well, I'm Sakura Haruno. I just happen to be coming through when I saw you. You should be lucky!"

"Lucky? I was supposed to die, yeah! That's why it's called suicidal! Ow!" He grunted, noticing that he wasn't in the best position to be making her mad. "Hn. Oh, I'm Deidara, by the way."

"Well Deidara, you really are crazy. I can heal you with this chakra, so it is obvious that I can do some pretty nasty things with it too!" she snorted out, already on the verge of another nasty fit. She was known all around for her legendary short fuse. With that, Deidara let out a wicked grin.

"If you want to test out your interesting chakra techniques on me, please be my guest, yeah."

"Don't get any ideas, Deidara. You're such a pervert!" She said angrily, but she secretly started to like this guy. Aside from the crazy bomb guy, he was kind of funny.

Her inner laughter abruptly stopped when she felt large chakra. Dark chakra. She immediately turned around and was face to face with 3 other men wearing the same black cloak with red clouds. Oh God! This isn't good! You're too caring Sakura! You forgot to check your surroundings! Naruto was right, he really was just bait! You've been outsmarted by Naruto of all people! Inner Sakura yelled once again.

The first person she recognized was Itachi Uchiha. His crimson eyes were slightly visible under the straw cone-shaped hat. Raven locks hugged the sides of his face. There was a very tall man with a large bandaged sword. She had heard of him. He was none other than Kisame Hoshigaki. The third one wore a weird orange swirly mask that only had one eye exposed.

She didn't have much time to react when Kisame lunged forward with that big sword. He was fast for his size. She jolted back only to be awaited by the orange-masked man. She dodged his kunai and kicked him in the gut. When she did, he grabbed her foot and dragged her down. She used chakra scalpel to slice his hand. It left a good sized gash.

As he grunted in pain, she took in the opportunity to throw a few kunai at him, careful not to waste any. Within a second, a blurry flash of black filled her eyesight as she was pinned to a large tree. Itachi's emotionless face shocked her, how closely he was like Sasuke. The same arrogant personality, I guess it was an Uchiha thing.

"What do you want, Itachi!" she yelled, her voice shaky from being in a chokehold. The only answer was a dark chuckle, followed with a knee to her gut. The impact was so violent that she most likely broke a few ribs. Next thing she knew she was over his shoulder and finally she blacked out.

She woke up in a large room. Not nice, just large. It was very empty except for a table and a couple chairs in the corner. There was a bed in the other corner and she wondered why they didn't just put her on it. She was a hostage. Did she expect them to tuck her in all comfy?

Of course not! She was thrown on the ground unceremoniously. She tried to move but her legs and arms were numb from sleeping on them, not to mention the terrible ache in her gut. She didn't have any chakra left so she couldn't heal herself. She heard someone stir in the room. That was when she noticed that the bed was occupied. A blonde man sat up slowly. Something inside of her snapped at that moment.

"You were bait?" She yelled. He arched one eyebrow at her sudden fury. Without anytime to answer, the door slammed open.

"No, we were coming to collect his ring when we noticed that he was alive. We know who you are and we need information on the Kyubi," Itachi elegantly interrupted. His face was emotionless as usual. He leaned casually against the wall near the door.

"Does that answer your question, yeah?" Deidara said after a short silence. She could have sworn that Deidara was glaring at Itachi. There was some sort of hatred between the two, but she didn't know why. She didn't care either way.

"What do you want with me?" she asked to no one particularly. She got a mild glare from Itachi and a lazy smirk from Deidara.

"I don't like to repeat myself, kunoichi. We need information in order to get the Kyuubi. You also would work well as bait. The vessel has feelings for you, am I right?" Itachi said smoothly.

"I'm not telling you anything, you monster!" Sakura yelled, her body being overtaken with rage. Itachi smirked and started walking out the door.

"As you wish, but you will eventually," he said quietly. Sakura gulped and quickly turned her head back to face Deidara. He emitted a low growl and looked at her. They stared at each other for a few tense seconds until she jerked her head sideways, suddenly embarrassed.

"You were fighting Sasuke?" she said quietly.

"Little Uchiha brat, yeah. Stupid arrogant Sharingan," Deidara growled. Sakura was confused. He had some sort of grudge between both Sasuke and Itachi. He mentioned something about the Sharingan. Maybe it has to do with an experience with it. Sakura knew how brutal some of the attacks could be, being a witness to them. Sakura stayed silent to his remark. Sasuke did have a reputation to be a little over the top with arrogance, just like his brother.

Even with his attitude, he had a ton of fan girls, Sakura included. She punished herself internally for that. She wasted so much time just gussying up. As if he would ever notice her. The more work she did to make herself pretty and the less time she worked to practice her skills and chakra control. Sasuke hated her even more for this.

Once she sought out Tsunade-shishou, she got stronger physically and internally. That led her to her present strength. She is a very high ranked jounin for Konoha. Although not the loyalist ninja of fire, she was a very useful asset. If Sasuke gave her the chance, she would, without hesitation, join him.

That was her dark secret, the one that could get her put in jail or ever get her killed if it was found out.

Before things got anymore awkward, she stood up shakily. Her legs and arms weren't numb anymore, but her ribs still hurt. She needed to gain some chakra.

Before she got to take more than one tiny step forward, she was interrupted, "It's chakra locked, yeah."

She turned around, only to see him on his back, not even looking at her. She snorted, but could she expect less. She was a hostage. She was surprised to be treated this good, if good is the right word. She was brutally thrown on the floor, but at least she wasn't chained down or something, right? She didn't know anymore. Everything happened so fast and was so unexpected.

_Where does my team think I am? Nobody knew that I was going back to heal him? Maybe they didn't even notice that I was gone. Yea, right! You've been gone for hours now! Of course they would've noticed! **Inner Sakura** bickered_. A frown found its way to her lips.

Seeing nothing better to do, she laid down to rest. There was no better way to get back chakra then to sleep. Curled up near the corner, she closed her eyes and drifted into a light slumber.

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**There's my first chapter. I hope you liked it. I know that theres a lot of grammer mistakes and stuff, but who cares, right? This is fanfiction, not a real published book. *nervous look* heh heh? ok nevermind, just don't kill me and REVIEW! Yea, this chapter might suck, but it gets better later. ;)**

**~Bowmangirl123**

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	2. Hostage

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Neither do you, unless you are Masashi Kishimoto. **

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Sakura awoke to a violent knocking on the door. Sakura was not a morning person. That was widely known. Do not mess with Haruno anytime before noon.

_Ahhh! Why do I hurt? Oh, yeah… I'm a fricken hostage! Those stupid Akatsuki! Wait, where's Deidara? __**Inner Sakura **__ranted as she looked into an empty bed. That's just great! She said sarcastically. At least I have some time to think this all over. Let's hope that they don't come in her anytime soon. _

Then she heard muted footsteps coming in her direction.

_Well that was short-lived. Why won't they leave me alone! The door is chakra-locked! I won't be going anywhere, anytime soon. I'm not that important… to them anyway. Wait, they wanted me to give them information on Naruto. That's not going to happen. Naruto is my best friend, although brainless, he's very loyal. I would rather die than give information out about Naruto's weaknesses. Speaking of weak, I still don't have any chakra! How? I rested! Wait! It's that sword that shark-man has. I've heard or it. Samehadi? Something like that. Grrr! They are relentless monsters. _

In the middle of an internal fit, she didn't even notice the shark-man walk in. "Sleep well, Princess?" he mocked with a toothed grin. Man, he really was a shark with a human's body, mentally too! Kisame was the type of guy to laugh at anything. I mean anything, especially when it was perverted. He also held grudges like there was no tomorrow.

"What do you want, fish-face?" she breathed through gritted teeth. The last thing she heard was a mad laugh, and then she was, once again, knocked unconscious.

Once she woke up, it wasn't as peaceful as it was before. She was in a run down motel with cockroaches and rats scurrying around the floor. She didn't know where she was, she just remembered that she was held captive. Calling every ounce of energy, she stood up from the dirty floor. Apparently, her kidnappers were gone so she decided to try to escape.

She studied every detail of the room. Remembering that the Akatsuki were not liked in most villages, they would not stay very long in the same place. That means that this was her only chance to escape this easily.

The room had a small, dirty window and rotting floorboards. There was a bed in the corner, so she knew one of the slept in there during the night. Of course they wouldn't leave her alone during the night, and she wondered why they left her alone now.

Not wanting to waste any time thinking, she immediately ran towards the window. She tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. Being Tsunade's student, she could use super-strength.

Forcing chakra to her hands, she could hear a creak before the window shot open, very loudly. Knowing that she probably attracted a lot of attention, she jumped up onto the ledge and ducked her head under the cracked glass. She looked outside and saw an all-too familiar hat and cloak.

There stood Kisame, apparently on guard. But, where were the others? She knew they had to be near. As if they were reading her thoughts, Itachi walked into the open next to Kisame.

She closed the window quickly to avoid being caught trying to escape. Bad idea. It made a thump louder than before, which caught the eyes of both men.

On impulse, she ran towards the door, trying to get away. The door was locked too, but she just used a little chakra and "Snap!" Right off the hinges. She didn't know whether to turn right or left, but she turned left since their footsteps seemed louder to the right. Sprinting down the hallway, there was another fork. She turned right and headed downstairs toward the first floor.

Seeing darkness, she used her keen ninja sensed to guide her through the hall. Thinking that she was free, since she heard no more footsteps or voices, she took the nearest door.

Before she reached it, thick arms grabbed her and pulled her back. She looked back and saw a young blonde looking at her.

"Where do you think you're going, yeah?" he smirked.

"Let me go!" Sakura screeched and struggled. She slipped out form him when she kicked him in a sensitive area. As he grunted, she sprinted out the door and down the road. She thought she was on the road to freedom. Felling abruptly tired, she went into a dark alley and hid.

_Now that I got away, what do I do? I don't know where I am and I am low on chakra again!__** Inner Sakura yelled harshly. **_

As she went down the road, she still could not recognize where she was. She never traveled to the village before.

Her freedom was short lived, because the next thing that she knew, she was once again pinned against a hard wall. Opening her eyes from the sudden pain in her back, she saw a flash of black and crimson. Itachi's emotionless face was the last thing that she wanted to see this morning. She scratched at his wrists holding her back. His grip only seemed to tighten the more she did.

She also tried to kick him until her attempts went futile when he pressed his leg so that she couldn't move at all. From behind Itachi, she could see Deidara and Kisame run towards her direction. Deciding that she was not in the best position for a fight, she went limp in his arms. He released some tension on her, but did not release her completely.

Finally, when the two other men reached her, she was released from Itachi's killer grip.

"You were supposed to guard her," came Itachi's smooth voice. He was looking at Deidara, and Deidara suddenly became full of fury. He scoffed and just turned around after competing Itachi in a glare contest, but unfortunately, losing.

They got back into the two-story motel, and the man with the strange orange mask walked in with bags. Sakura was, once again, alone in the room.

After about half an hour, the door slammed open and Kisame walked in with a tray. He slid it to her, grinned scarily at her, and left the same way that he came. She examined her food and found a glass of water and an apple.

_Well, at least it's healthy__**, Inner Sakura said,**__ and it doesn't look like crap. _

After devouring the apple in like three bites and gulping down the water, she looked out the window again. For some reason, watching the sun rise and the wind blow always calmed Sakura.

Hours seemed to pass until she noticed that they were still in the same place. What could they be doing in this town? She wanted to get the information so she started jumping hard. She was planning on making a lot of noise to attract their attention, since the door was now locked from the outside. Fortunately, her plan worked and Deidara poked slammed the door open.

"What the hell are you doing, yeah?" he spat as if she just kicked a puppy. "Where are we and why?" Sakura said, ignoring his question. He just glared at her.

"Why do you care?" he finally breathed. Sakura was about to knock him out, and put him in a crappy motel in the middle of nowhere and see how he likes it.

"WHAT? IF YOU WON'T LET ME GO, YOU AT LEAST NEED TO TELL ME WHERE WE ARE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, fury overtaking her. Deidara winced at the high screech emitted from Sakura.

"Gees, kid. Calm down, we don't want to attract attention, yeah," Deidara whispered, obviously annoyed. Sakura still stood there, trembling with rage.

"Well, I got to go, yeah," he said as he was about to close the door. Before it closed, Sakura yelled, "Wait! You haven't answered my question yet?" But it was too late. He already left. I hate Akatsuki! They are so…. Ugh! Inner Sakura ranted.

It didn't last long though since Itachi walked in seconds after Deidara left. She snarled, not wanting to see his face for at least a month. She turned her head away from him to show her disgust, but he just looked at her in amusement.

"We are leaving now, kunoichi," he said smoothly. She snorted. "I am _not_ traveling with you, Itachi," she spat with venom when she pronounced his name. He still glared at her and she glared back into his crimson eyes. What seemed like hours staring into those eyes, the door flew open and three men walked in.

"We're ready, yeah," Deidara growled. Sakura immediately looked in their direction to avoid having to look any longer at Itachi. Deidara looked at Sakura, and she immediately tensed.

"I'm not going," she said low, but meaning every word. She was like a stubborn child. Kisame chuckled randomly -he does that a lot- and Itachi's voice silenced him.

"Deidara, take her."

Deidara just snorted and grabbed Sakura tightly from behind. She started to struggle, but he kept his grip firm.

"Stop struggling or I'll knock you out," he whispered and he grinned crazily. He then flipped her into bridal style to be more comfortable. They flew out the door thanks to chakra-infused speed and she held onto the closest thing, which happened to be Deidara's cloak.

Wind hit Sakura's face like a thousand knives in one place. To shield her from the pain, she hid her head near his chest. _Warm, muscular, gorgeous chest. He looks a lot better from when I healed him. God, his face is beautiful, and those eyes: sparkling blue like swimming in the ocean. **Inner Sakura drooled. **No stop thinking about that. He might notice. _Unfortunately, he did notice, which made him grin harder.

Putting those thoughts out of her head, she watched intently at where they were going. She looked for distinct landmark which she could remember to guide her back to the village and hopefully back home. But there was nothing except... trees. Lots of them. Too many of them. Wow, there's so many trees. They're everywhere. She had no clue on Earth where they were.

Deidara was in the front of the squad, probably because he could use his scope to map out the area better than the rest of them. Itachi was at the back to cover up their tracks. The orange- masked man -who she learned the name was Tobi- and Kisame were in the middle.

She must have been mouthing the word 'trees' because he looked down at her, smirked and said, "We're traveling through the land of Forest, yeah."

She had to think a second about that. _Forest? Wait! That's right next to Fire Country. It's connected by a river. If only I could find that river, maybe I could escape. This country is known for it's criminals, though. No wonder that's where were going. But we have an alliance with this, so they could send a message to Tsunade-shishou for me._

A small, hopeful smile crept onto Sakura's lips. Having a good feeling of what she was thinking, Deidara snorted. "You're not going anywhere soon, yeah." She immediately looked up at him and frowned.

"Why are we going through here?"

"A group of ninjas thought that it would be funny if they spread some rumors about Akatsuki, yeah. They need to learn their lesson," he said said with a violent flare in his eyes. "They'll learn what true art is," he finished. Sakura knew exactly what he was thinking. Something about a 'boom' and 'explosions' and all that crap.

Soon she could see the border of a small village. The group lowered to a jog and then a walk when they hit the ground. He set her down, and she had to get used to her legs, since they had fallen asleep. They walked into the village. She was planning to escape in the town, but they surrounded her at all sides.

Then a large building came into view and they stopped and looked at it.

"It is here," Itachi rolled off his tongue. They continued inside wondering what they would find inside.

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Sry for mistakes. I know there are a lot but this is my first story so spare me. Please review. I'll try to update soon, but i have sports, school, and other activities. ~Bowmangirl123


	3. Mercy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, there would be many changes. I do own a bipolar gerbil, though.**

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The room was very large, compared to the other buildings. There were chairs in the corner. The front desk was sparkling silver, while the walls were a deep crimson.

We walked up to the front desk slowly. Seeing that nobody was blocking me in from the side, I decided it would be a good time to escape, seeing that they had something else important to do than chase me down.

I jolted off of my foot to the side, and I barely got two feet away before a large hand grabbed the collar of my shirt, pulling me roughly back. I looked up and saw Kisame looking at me. He either wanted to eat me right on the spot or to break out laughing randomly- did I mention that he does that a lot- again.

Giving up, I continued walking with the group until we got to the desk. A young women stood there, smiling, but she looked as if she was about to faint. It's not that often that you meet four Akatsuki members in one place.

"Can I help you?" she asked timidly. She looked at all the men before her eyes stopped at the lone woman in the group. Sakura's eyes looked pleadingly into the other woman's. She was about to mouth 'help me' until Itachi broke the silence.

"We are looking for Yutaka. Is he present?"

"Why yes," she said, trying to please the intimidating man, "but he is not seeing anyone now," she added quietly.

Within a flash, the woman was on the ground with a clay snake around her. Deidara towered over her, growing irritated. His hands were already in the position to explode the snake.

"Where is he?" Deidara growled. He forced the snake to grow tighter until he saw a glare from Itachi in the corner of his eye.

"Down the hall, third door on the left," she coughed her voice raspy from lack of air. Deidara was about to explode the snake, before Tobi tripped and pushed Deidara out of the way. Deidara smacked Tobi on the head and muttered something about 'art' and walked on.

"Oh! Sorry sempai! I tripped!" Tobi explained frantically. Deidara just scoffed and ignored him.

One doors, two doors, three doors. Sakura looked at the solid oak door. It looked weak from the outside, but it was heavily reinforced on the inside. Deidara attached a few clay bugs on each of the locks on the inside. Within seconds, the door was off of its hinges and in a million pieces.

Deidara smirked arrogantly before they piled into the large room. A group of men sat in the room. They jerked their heads once they heard the explosion.

"Akatsuki? What are you doing here!" one yelled fiercely.

"We're sorry about our doings. Don't kill us. We beg you!" another, not so brave one said. '_This is who spread those rumors?_' Sakura thought.

Before any other groveling would take place, Itachi had slit the throat of on in a flash. Sakura gasped as the others quickly tried to kill each other. '_Why are they killing them? That's brutal! Oh right. These are Akatsuki, those heartless monsters.' _Sakura cursed.

Kunai flashed, men fell, blood poured, until Sakura had enough. She picked up a kunai and threw it at Itachi. He easily dodged it like she expected. He gave her another death glare until he continued fighting.

What seemed like hours was only about a minute until all of the ninja, excluding the Akatsuki, lay dead. None of the Akatsuki had a single scratch but they were covered in the others' blood.

The walked out as quickly as they walked in as if nothing just happened. They slit the throat of the young woman on the way out which pissed off Sakura.

"What was that all about?" she growled, anger dripping off her tongue.

"They needed to learn their lesson, yeah," Deidara smirked. Itachi glared at her non-stop since her little incident. She just decided to ignore it. Itachi whispered something to Kisame and Kisame nodded. They had encircled her again until Kisame and Tobi had run off down the streets. Itachi's constant glare kept her from escaping and it was really annoying her. They kept walking near the outskirts of the town to keep from being found.

Minutes passed until Kisame and Tobi came back with a bag in hand. _I wonder what it is. I haven't heard of Akatsuki shopping before, __**Inner Sakura **__giggled, but it's probably something to kill someone. _

He handed the bag to Itachi, while Kisame and Tobi went off to scout the area. Itachi pulled out a rope from the bag and Sakura immediately recognized it as a chakra-resistant rope. As honored as she felt that they would actually have to take away her chakra, she needed it to have any chance of escape.

Itachi tried to tie it around her wrists, but she ran away. Far and fast. Faster than she ever ran before, in her life. She knew that Itachi and Deidara were following her since she could sense their chakra.

Sakura was a jounin, so it wasn't too hard to keep her pacing, but Itachi was S-Class. He had running for years so he just as easy kept up with her, slowing reaching her.

They had been running for a couple minutes. But wait, where was Deidara? Just before she could think of any suggestions, he jumped out of the tree next to her, grabbing her. He gripped her tightly to make sure that she didn't escape.

They fell to the ground hard, his arms still around her. It looked a little like a hug, but she knew better than to think that. They rolled over a couple times until she landed flat on top of him. A tiny- very small, minuscule, mini, barely visible- redness landed on his cheeks.

She noticed that she was straddling him. A betraying blush also found its way upon her cheeks until she quickly got off of him. Once he got up and brushed the dirt off his legs, Itachi landed behind her. Before she could even turn around, he had tied her wrists together with the chakra-resistant rope.

She cursed herself for not noticing him, but she was too busy having an internal heart attack. Giving in, she walked with them, once again, closing her in. She sighed, wondering how in the world she would get out of the situation.

They got back into town, and met with Kisame and Tobi.

"There aren't any hunter-nins in these woods here that I sensed," Kisame told Itachi. Itachi nodded and looked at Deidara again. He nodded back in understanding, not bothering to hide his scowl.

He grabbed Sakura from behind for the second time. She felt too vulnerable since she couldn't move her hands from behind her back. With a huff of exasperation, she didn't try to struggle. Looking at Deidara after what happened before made it hard to not blush.

She stayed quiet for a while, trying for him not to notice her blush. _Go away, blush! Don't look at me, Deidara. Please land soon, __**Inner Sakura begged. **_She watched the changing background beneath them, as she wondered where they would take her this time. She tried desperately not to think about Naruto and the rest of her friends.

* * *

"Lady Tsunade, we have bad news," Kakashi said calmly. Tsunade looked up from her nap, but most likely a hangover. "What is it?"

"Sakura-chan has gone missing!" Naruto yelled, obviously angered from Kakashi-sensei's nonchalant attitude. After those words were said, Tsunade immediately tensed. Her prized student, missing? She shuffled through papers quickly.

"Looks like you need a mission?" she said, trying to act calm. "Let's see who's available. Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru, yourself, and Sai should be enough. Along with Kakashi, and Yamato."

"When do we leave?" Naruto said impatiently. Tsunade signed. What was with that kid?

"Tomorrow morning," she said, braced for impact from his complaints.

"We need to leave now!" he reasoned, "She could be dead tomorrow morning!" Tsunade rubbed her temples to help ease the headache forming from his loud voice. She looked over at the ANBU in the corner.

"Go inform everyone. We are heading out in the morning." She looked back at Naruto with what looked like worry on her face. "Naruto, remember that the Akatsuki are after you. Don't do anything reckless. Do not try to pick any unnecessary fights with Akatsuki. And one last thing. You _will_ bring Sakura back." Naruto grinned, but his face was full of determination.

"You can count on me, old Lady!" Tsunade groaned from his remark, too worried about Sakura to get mad at him. Naruto and Kakashi nodded their departure before they went to pack for tomorrows journey.

The next morning they all met at the Hokages office to set off. Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru, Sai, Yamato, and Naruto all stood waiting for the only one not there. Finally, Kakashi arrived reading Icha Icha Paradise again. He looked up, noticing that everyone was glaring at him. "Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life." Shikamaru muttered something that sounded a lot like 'you're so troublesome.'

"Whatever! Let's go!" Naruto yelled, already heading off. The six others quickly caught up. They were dashing through the trees with Kiba and Akamaru in the front.

"Do you smell anything Kiba?" Naruto asked impatiently. Kiba shook his head mournfully.

"Do you have any idea where they could be, Naruto?" Yamato asked. Naruto tried to avoid his eye contact because, honestly he didn't. He was thinking that she did go back to heal him, but if she did, they would be far from there by now.

"If they were Akatsuki, they could have gone back to their base. They, most likely, kidnapped Sakura to lure you into their trap, Naruto," Shikamaru explained slowly, so that even Naruto would understand. Naruto growled and they thought that he would start leaking the Kyuubi's chakra, but he immediately settled down. They continued down to the place that they found Deidara laying before. They could get her scent from there easiest.

* * *

Sakura finally noticed that they were lowering and slowing down. The village in front of her was large and... wet. It looked like it never stopped raining here. "Where are we?" she whispered. "Welcome to Ame," Deidara smirked as he set her down. _Ame. Ame was between all of the nations. I heard something about it being the battlefield for many of the wars. But there's something else here. I forget what it was, but something important's here. **Inner Sakura explained. **_

They walked down the streets until they stopped at a large building, many stories high. They walked into the front room, but stopped at another door. There was a marking on the side and Itachi held up his hand to it. His ring glowed for a second and the door opened automatically. They went up the building and stopped near the top floor.

The room was large, with a comfortable couch and a connected kitchen. A hallway connected many other rooms, but she didn't know what they were used for. What shocked her the most was a man, about 30, walked up. He had orange hair and many piercings lining his ears, nose, and body. The scariest part was his eyes. They had a purple tint and were ringed. They were quite intimidating.

_It's all coming back to me now. The Rinnegan? That must be the leader of the Akatsuki. This must be the Akatsuki headquarters. I never knew it would be so nice. Well, even missing-nin have to live in comfort._

"This is the girl?" the man said smoothly, looking directly at Sakura. She thought that she was about to faint until he directed his glare elsewhere.

* * *

**Theres chapter 3, guys. Hope ya enjoyed it. Once again, sry for mistakes. My brain knows what to right, but my fingers aren't the most accurate on the keyboard. You know what i love? Reviews! Please give me some. Thank you for reading this. If you are reading this please review so that I know you are. I don't know if there's one reader out there or many, but I spend most of my free time writing this, and I am already so busy. Give me a break and... (drumroll) review! **

** ~Bowmangirl123**


	4. Comfort

**Yea, sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I had another fanfic that I worked on. I also just went on vacation so I didn't write then either. My bad. Anyway, thanks for your reviews, the more I get, the more I will be motivated to write another chapter. *wink* *nudge, nudge* Yea, please review and stuff. xD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own snazzy shoes, though. (:**

* * *

Sakura found it strange that the Akatsuki base was so finely decorated. There was no blood on the walls like she thought, no dead bodies either. It actually looked rather comfortable, if there weren't many S-class criminals around here.

She studied every detail of the room until a shuffling snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked to see Itachi removing her chakra resistant cuffs.

"I am Pein, leader of the Akatsuki. Do you know why you are here?" the orange haired-man said suddenly. Sakura darted her eyes towards him at the sound of his deep voice.

"I-I, um y-yes. Bait f-for the Kyuubi," she stuttered, pressured once again, under his glare. He nodded. Sakura didn't even notice that the other four members left the room.

"Have a seat." She obeyed and took the nearest seat. "Do you know why I want all nine Jinjurikis?"

"To gain the power of the ten tailed beast?" she asked.

"You are half-right. My village, Ame, has always been in the middle of all the battles, since it is centrally located between all major nations. Our village has undergone major destruction. Every Shinobi War just brings more and more destruction. My goal is to bring peace among all the nations."

"By killing everyone with the Ten tails?" she asked, confused.

"I am not planning on killing or destroying villages, even though my own was. I plan on using the beast to intimidate all other nations to have no more war, but instead to make peace with each other."

"Ah, I see," Sakura said, finally seeing his true intention. _He might be going a little overboard, but he has a noble intention. He doesn't want to destroy everything. In fact, I don't think that he wants to destroy anything. He must have suffered so much pain in his childhood, but he still doesn't want to see others to suffer like he did._

* * *

"She's not here, Shikamaru!" Kiba growled.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Shikamaru glowered, "This is so troublesome." Naruto was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Can you pick up her direction from here, Kiba?" Kakashi asked calmly, but it was obvious that he was worried for Sakura's wellbeing too.

"Her scent is very strong here. Of course I can track her scent!" Kiba said arrogantly, smirking.

"Then let's hurry up and go!" Naruto yelled, having enough of their nonchalant behavior.

Six sets of eyes made their way to Naruto, some startled, others not so much, seeing as it was Naruto.

"Geez," Naruto. Impatient much?" Kiba snorted. "Fine. Um, this way." he pointed. Naruto breathed out to calm himself and his inner demon.

Darting past trees, they were off again, hopefully one step closer to finding Sakura.

* * *

Sakura slowly walked towards the large door. She was permitted to have a room in the base temporarily. It was a guest room of course, very plain and bland. There were only the basic furniture items.

Sakura wasn't disappointed, though. She still was a hostage, and she was very lucky to actually get a bed to sleep on.

Pein told her earlier that day that the whole base was chakra locked, and in order to get out of the base, she needed to have someone come with her and deactivate it temporarily.

She sighed and plopped herself onto the surprisingly soft black sheets. _Naruto and the others are probably looking for me. That's both good and bad. I want to get out of here, but Naruto... he's in danger if he gets anywhere close to this place. There are many members here and fully capable of killing him or knocking him unconscious._

The thought of Naruto in the filthy hands of the Akatsuki was quickly pushed out of her mind. _They won't lay a finger on Naruto. We have great Jounins who will protect him, like Kaka-sensei and Yamato. _

Looking at the bright side of things made Sakura smile faintly. She needed something good to think about now.

Sakura laid on the bed for hours just thinking. Thinking about possible ways to escape, (nothing useful). Thinking who Tsunade-shishou sent on this mission, and thinking about what Pein had told her.

_Why would he tell me? I am a hostage and I could tell everyone and ruin his plans. I don't think that he was lying. I didn't sense any fluctuate in his chakra. Maybe there was a catch to it. Maybe I won't get a chance to tell anyone because he is going to kill me. No. He wouldn't kill me. He wants peace, not death. And he is going to get it in his own messed up way. **Inner Sakura reviewed. **Ahhh, it doesn't make any sense. _

And with that, she closed her eyes to get away from today's troubles.

* * *

Tsunade cracked her eyes open, wincing from the sudden lights. She had drunk more sake than usual to get her mind off of Sakura's kidnapping.

One thing didn't settle in her mind. The Akatsuki have been dormant for a while after Gaara was captured. She thought that they might have been planning some sort of attack to get Naruto. Many of the Akatsuki's were killed so far, so they might have waited to gain some more loyal members before they attack a large city.

She needed to warn Konoha's ally about this. The Kazekage needed to be warned.

"Shizune! Send for Hyuuga Neji and Lee. Now go!" Tsunade shouted to her assistant.

"Ayy, yes Lady Tsunade!" Shizune fumbled already running out the door, dropping her pig, Tonton on the way. Tsunade growled.

xXx

Ten minutes later, two figures stood in the Hokage's office.

"I have a mission for you two. It's very simple but very important." She earned two nods from this. "I want you to give this scroll to the Kazekage. I am not sending a hawk because it is too important. This is not to be opened beyond the hands of the Kazekage himself. Understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the two said simultaneously.

"Good. You are to leave tonight."

* * *

"Gah," Sakura groaned as a pounding came to the door. "Yea?"

" Your chakra was spiking, yeah. Are you trying to escape?" said the voice, which happened to be Deidara's.

"Waaa," came her intelligent reply/groan. _I must have been having a bad dream in my sleep or something for my chakra to spike. I got to be more careful. _

"I'll take that as a no, yeah," he said. Even with a door in the way, she could tell that he was smirking. Sakura looked out of the window and saw the setting sun. _Ah, great. I'm starving. I better find someone to take me to get food. God, I _hate_ relying on people, especially these people. _

She got up ungracefully and straightened herself up.

Slow steps took her to her dark wooden door. Gently hands grasped to knob and it slowly opened.

She walked out of her room faster than before. The room seemed empty except for a lone person sitting at a desk.

There Deidara sat doing what looked to be tinkering with something. A couple steps to the side showed her that it wasn't tinkering, but was sculpting.

Another step to the side told Sakura that it was a very detailed clay bird, but it also told her that she should be more quiet when she is sneaking around.

A loud creak emitted from the floor and caught the attention of the single Akatsuki member.

"What are you doing, yeah?" he asked, turning back to sculpt some more.

"Uh, I was just walking... and seeing um... if you would," Sakura stuttered, not knowing how to ask him to take her to get food. "Nevermind." she settled with. _I can just starve until tomorrow. It's better than this. _

Deidara snorted and she looked back at his clay creation.

"You made that yourself? It's really good," Sakura said to make the dense air less awkward.

"It's called _art_, yeah." he stated arrogantly. Sakura took a step forward to get a better look at the bird, but something else caught her eyes.

"Wow," she said inadvertently. _Mouths! He has mouths on his hands! _Her sudden screech caused him to jerk and break off the beak of the bird.

"What, yeah," he sputtered angrily. When she didn't say anything, he looked at the direction of her gaze and sighed. "Yeah, yeah. It's my bloodline limit." he said, bracing for remarks about how much of a freak he is.

"That's so... cool!"

A compliment? He never got one of those for his hands. Just insults. He immediately turned to face her, bemused.

"Cool?"

"Yeah! I've never seen anything like that! May I?" she asked reaching for his hand after he nodded. She looked at it closely, brushing her thumb over it lightly. She gasped silently when it stuck its tongue out at her.

"You're strange, yeah."

"I'm strange because I don't think that your hands are strange?"

He smirked.

Moments later, her stomach growled and her cheeks grew pink from embarrassment.

"You're hungry, yeah?" he smirked.

"Maybe, a little," she finally said quietly.

"That's what you were going to ask before, yeah?" he eyed her suspiciously.

"Well, it's not like I can go get something to eat without being punished later for an escape attempt," she pointed out.

"Hn. Fine, come on, yeah," he brushed off the table and put the clay back into his side pouches. A smile crept onto Sakura's face. _I guess I'm not gonna starve after all. _

They walked out of the door onto the lit streets.

* * *

**Well? I know I didn't update for a while, as stated at the top of the page, and I apologize for that. Please review. Yea, I went dormant for a while and thanks to reviews, I got motivated again and wrote another chapter. You guys have the power! Unite! Well, not really, but still review please. Bowmangirl123 out!**


	5. Nomad

**Hey again, guys! This is chapter 5, hence it saying chapter 5. Just thought that I would point out the obvious. Obvious-pointing-out-time over. Well, some could say that this is a date, maybe, maybe not. I don't really care. Anyway, I'm going to try to update more. I'm those types of people who procrastinate. (I'm not the only one! Roar! Sorry about that outburst.) I also have writers block a lot. I mean, like, holy crap, what was I thinking before. Yea, now you know everything you need to about me. Please Review peeps!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own a can of Coke Cherry Zero. (: Yummy in my tummy!**

_"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." _

_- Harriet Tubman_

* * *

**_New Beginning_**

Bowmangirl123

_Chapter 5_

_Nomad_

The streets were dimly lit, but the full moon illuminated what the lights didn't. They walked down the streets examining the restaurants.

Sakura sneaked a quick glance at Deidara, but his handsome face was covered with his blonde bangs.

"You like dango, yeah?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah," she replied absently. _His eyes shine in this light. Oh crap, what am I thinking? _She quickly pushed those thoughts into the far corner of her mind.

They were walking in silence until a small shop came into view.

He walked smoothly into it and she followed because, no matter how uninterested he seems, he's keeping a constant watch on her. After all, if he lets her escape, he's the one going to be punished.

"Good evening, you two," an old lady at the front greeted. Sakura smiled at her sweetly, and Deidara simply grunted. "A table for two, Hikaru. Maybe outside-," she said to the waitress.

"Oh, we're getting carry out, yeah," Deidara interrupted.

"I'm sorry, sir. We don't do carry out," she stated sweetly. Deidara only glared and sighed in defeat.

"Follow me, please," Hikaru said, motioning for them to come.

-xXx-

A short time later, a plate of delicious dango was displayed to them. Sakura, being about to starve, greedily grabbed some and gulped it down.

"You were a _little_ hungry? It looks like you could eat Kisame whole, yeah," he stated and received a blank look from a swallowing Sakura. But soon after, she burst into giggles.

"I don't like sushi," she said through giggles.

"Once again, I must emphasize that you are strange, yeah. And it's not just the hair."

A few moments she calmed down her random laughing fit and finished her dango.

Now, the sun was completely gone and the street lights were all on.

Sakura looked at the sea of stars. Those little balls of gas a million miles away seemed to wink at her. _I wish I could just float around and do nothing, no killing, no heartbreaks, nothing. _She looked around herself. _Just like the flowers, grass, and trees. They all grow in silence and without war. Oh great, now I'm beginning to sound like Shikamaru. Where are they already? _

Sensing her unease, Deidara looked at her. "What are you looking at, yeah?" he asked, hiding his _very small_ amount of worry.

"Oh, uh, nowhere," she responded quickly, maybe seeming a little too defensive.

Whether he sensed it or not, he didn't ask anything else.

"I'm done, yeah."

"Yeah, me too."

A small wad amount of money was handed to the cashier and they walked out calmly.

Silence engulfed them until Sakura decided to voice her thoughts.

"There's a lot of stars out tonight."

He looked at her blankly, and sighed.

"I know, yeah."

The rest of the walk was more all-too- familiar silence. They walked into the door using Deidara's ring as a sort of key and then went their separate way once again.

* * *

Neji and Lee walked calmly past the gates of Suna. Guards stood on either side of the gates, but let them through, knowing of their arrival.

It seemed like a normal day, and it was. Neither shinobi knew what lies in the scroll, but they would never defy their Hokage's orders of not reading it.

The large building symbolized the Kazekage's office. After waiting to gain access inside, they were granted it. They found their way upstairs into his office.

"Gaara!" Lee's voice echoed from the walls.

Gaara looked up from his papers to see the shinobi he faced in the Chuunin round years before.

"We have been ordered to give this to you, Kazekage-sama." He produced a scroll and handed it off.

Gaara performed the appropriate jutsu and the scroll opened into view. His teal eyes examined the scroll.

His normally emotionless eyes showed the slightest hint of worry.

He removed a scroll from his pile and took out a pen. He wrote a message that neither Neji or Lee could read from that distance, and performed another concealing jutsu on it.

"Make sure this gets to your Hokage," he requested blandly.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama." And with that, they were on the streets, heading back to Konoha.

* * *

"Naruto, slow down. If we meet an Akatsuki and you're exhausted, it won't end well, and it will be troublesome." Shikamaru pointed out to an already pissed off Naruto.

"Don't you care about Sakura at all?" Naruto fumed, traces of red chakra already covering his body.

"Yamato," Kakashi lazily whispered.

"I'm on it."

A figure appeared on Yamato palm and Naruto quickly settled down, the evil fox's chakra disappearing until it was completely gone.

They ran miles more until Kiba's voice broke the silence. A large town came into view, and a raincloud appeared above them threatening to release water any second.

"This is where her scent stops. It's also strongest here."

"What are you guys waiting for? Let's go get her!" Naruto bellowed.

"We don't know if she really is there!"

A couple of stray kids walked through the trees that they were currently occupying.

"Hey, you! Have you seen a girl with pink hair around here?" Naruto yelled at them.

They ran back into the town, scared.

"Why, you!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto. Your wasting your time yelling at innocent kids. It's just troublesome" Shikamaru stated.

"Hinata, do you sense any chakra in there?" Kakashi said in a drawn out manner.

"Oh. Ok. Byakugan. Um," she examined the whole city, "t-there are s-several large c-chakra forces i-in that large b-building," she stuttered, embarrassed to be put on the spot.

"We can't just barge in when we are all exhausted like this." Shikamaru repeated.

"But we need to find Sak-"

"Naruto! Let's find camp and rest far away from the city," Yamato put in. Naruto pouted.

* * *

"Zetsu! Gather them all. There will be am important meeting," Pein commanded smoothly.

A large plant man, whose body was half black and half white, nodded -well, as much as you can with a large venus fly trap surrounding your body- and disappeared into the ground.

Minutes later, he reappeared from the ground. Pein sat in a seat and held up his hand until his ring glowed. The same happened to Zetsu.

Everything went fuzzy for a second and then the Akatsuki members all appeared in a large cave.

They weren't really there, though.

They were in a kind of half and half state. Their real bodies stayed where they were, but mentally, they were in the cave. Make sense?

"Why did you call us here, yeah?" Deidara spoke first.

"We must relocate our base temporarily," Pein's voice echoed.

"Why?"

"We are being hunted down. There was reports of a group of shinobi in search for a girl with pink hair. As you know, pink hair isn't common, so they are most likely searching for Sakura," Pein explained.

"I'm gonna sacrifice them!" a man with purple eyes and silver hair yelled.** (A/N Sorry. I can't use his language!)**

A very tall man with threads all up his arms and half his face in his mask said, "Hidan!"

"We are leaving tonight. They will most likely not come into the town until then," Pein continued.

"Why not blow them up, yeah?"

"One of them was reported to be the container for the Kyubi. We cannot let him be killed. Deidara, you are to tell her to relocate. Do not tell the girl the reasons for the relocation. It will only cause problems. Everyone understand?"

Nods were exchanged and the suddenly disappeared one-by-one.

Deidara returned to his normal body and looked around. He can't tell Sakura why to move, just to do it. That might be harder than it looks.

-xXx-

"Sakura," Deidara called to the pink-haired cherry blossom.

"Yeah?" she responded curiously.

"We're going to relocate, yeah. Pack your things." he said bluntly, not knowing what else to say.

"Why?" she asked.

"There was... rogue ninja... planning to assassinate us, yeah." he settled.

"Why couldn't you just kill them?" she asked, pushing it more.

"I thought you Konoha guys hated killing! You should be happy that we aren't killing them, yeah!" he yelled.

She glared.

Hard.

He glared.

Harder.

A glaring contest was underway until she got up and went into her small visitors room to collect her things.

_Something doesn't fit right, here. If there was rogue ninja, they could easily be killed by the Akatsuki. Was he lying? Maybe. Either way, I don't think I have a choice if I want to relocate. _

With that, she closed her bag filled with only clothes, and a few other necessities.

* * *

Nightfall came and worry filled Sakura.

Not everyone of the Akatsuki were at their base, _Thank Kami!, _so only six Akatsuki members and Sakura had to relocate at this time: Sakura, Deidara, Tobi, Pein, Itachi, Kisame, and Pein's partner, Konan.

The stars weren't out this night. The moon was covered in thick clouds, and it wasn't long before a long water droplets hit her nose.

Soon, it was pouring with rain, and they were sprinting past trees.

Sakura ran faster than she ever did.

These were S-Class criminals and missing-nin. They have to be able to outrun hunter-nins and other deadly shinobi.

This brought her back to the reason for the relocation. _Rogue ninja? They wouldn't attack the organization as a whole. It would be suicide. They might be stronger than that to actually attempt at putting an end to the Akatsuki. It's going to be a long night. _

Sakura sighed and kept her pace with the group.

She was in the middle of them so there was no chance of escape. Not here. Not this night. **(A/N I just quoted Jack from_ Titanic_! Sorry, nevermind.)**

Her petite legs and perfect chakra control could keep her running for a while at this speed, but, in time, she would get tired.

_I can't show weaknesses. I can't show them!** Inner Sakura spat. **They would look down at me, and Konoha as a whole. _

They ran miles.

They ran hours.

They ran.

They ran through trees.

They ran over water.

They just ran.

"Where are we going?" I asked Deidara.

"You'll see, yeah." he smirked.

He smirked.

It was a sexy smirk.

_Oh Kami!_

* * *

**Well? That was Chapter 5, as stated above, and above that, and above that. Yea, well, um, please review. I know that it's been like the eight time I asked you that, but I would love it if some of you actually LISTENED! Oh! Sorry, I had another outburst. I can't help it sometimes. Hey, I guess I'm kinda like Juugo. Haha, he's freakin' awesome! **

**I'll be working on Chapter 6. If you want someone to be shown in here, just PM me or leave a comment. Kinda like requests? **

**Yup. Do you think it needs more action, more romance, more randomness? **

**Oh, and, if you haven't noticed, there are quotes on this page. I'll try to leave some, either funny, or dramatic and stuff. If you have a quote that you want to list, just tell me!**

**-Bowmangirl123 (again)**

_"Don't tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon."_

_-Brandt Paul_


	6. Weakness

**Hey again guys! What's up! So here's chapter 6! I didn't know I would actually have time to write so many chapters in such little time. I mean like 2 in the same week. Well, I suppose that's good for you guys. Yeah, I'm not going to say that I'll have a chapter out every week or every other week. I'll have a chapter out when I have time. End of story. Not really. This story is far from ending. ;) *wink*. Anyway, thanks for reviews, my amazing readers. You rock!**

_"To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone."_

_ -Reba McEntire_

**_New Beginning _**

Bowmangirl123

_Chapter 6_

_Weakness_

* * *

Her legs carried her body steadily for awhile.

Sakura had no clue where they were. If there was one thing she was used to, it was trees... and injured people, but that's not important.

It was only when she felt herself becoming weaker and losing chakra that she grew instantly worried.

_Well, isn't this great **Inner Sakura stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm. **_

A frown was permanently placed on her face.

No matter how weak she was, she was going to run until it threatened her health.

Normally Sakura could go one much farther than this, but the day that Deidara told her about their relocation, she was healing an injury from one of the outside traps that were set. That used up a fair amount of chakra.

Scowling at her bad decision, she slowly began to lag behind the others.

Once only a couple of Akatsuki were behind her, she realized how noticeablely slow she was being.

She sighed and forced her aching legs to speed up.

For a short amount of time, she was slowly gaining her ground back. She kept her pace and was running even with Deidara again, even slightly passing him.

You know what they say, the good things never last.

Suddenly she felt a little lightheaded. Apparently that was an understatement.

She took a big leap.

Just a little too short.

She missed the branch.

And was currently falling.

Blackness silently engulfed her for seconds that seemed more like hours.

The swish of black and red was the last thing she saw before she braced for impact from the fall.

But the fall never did come.

Moments later, she opened her eyes slightly and found a blonde Akatsuki member.

She looked down and expected to see her mangled legs, but instead found branches.

She never fell.

Instead, Deidara had caught her before she fell and was currently carrying her bridal style.

_I'm too used to this. Well, now I just got my respect lowered. I want a deep hole to stick my head in. He should have just let me drop._

Whether she liked it or not, Deidara saved her and she was still going to be relocated.

Not wanting to look up at him, she directed her gaze to the passing trees.

**-xXx-**

After she had seen as many trees as a civilian has seen in their whole life, she finally let her gaze wander to the person currently carrying her.

_Why did he bother catching me? He wouldn't be blamed for my weaknesses. Why didn't he let me drop? He even bothered carrying me back. _

Sakura must have zoned out while looking at his face, because he turned his head and faced her.

She didn't look away.

She looked into his blue eyes and he smirked... again.

"I... slipped. Sorry," Sakura muttered.

"No kidding, yeah," he responded, "It was obvious for a while. It was only a matter of time before you fell, yeah."

"Oh. I didn't know." she mumbled, mainly to herself.

She looked down again, content with watching the others' backs.

"We're going to another smaller Akatsuki base, yeah."

She looked up at him and nodded into his cloak.

* * *

"Ok, is everyone rested?" Yamato asked to his group.

"Yea, Ok, Let's go now!" Naruto yelled irritably.

With a few other nods from the rest of the group, Yamato and Kakashi led them into the town.

They masked their chakra for easy travel into and out of the town.

There were many people in the streets, nothing out of the ordinary.

The large building that Hinata had pointed to be with the most chakra was now in the groups' view.

Sneaking past other buildings, they finally made it to the building.

Only using the bear minimum of chakra, they jumped to the top and made their way into the building.

Kiba stopped first and sniffed the air for Sakura's smell.

"That way," he pointed and Akamaru and Naruto rushed to the way he pointed.

A hallway faced Kiba with many doors.

He smelled the air again and pointed to the door with the most obvious Sakura smell.

Naruto ran up to it carelessly and slammed it open, breaking the hinges.

He stopped.

And looked around.

There was nothing.

"Nothing..." he muttered to himself, barely audible, "she's not here."

Kakashi came from behind and put a supporting hand on his shoulder.

His favorite book wasn't being read at the moment, so Kakashi was obviously worried about his former student.

"We'll find her," Kakashi said optimistically.

Naruto's red demon chakra leaked out one again, and Yamato was already making hand signs before Kakashi could say anything.

Disappointed and lonely, Naruto stared at the ground save a few glances around Sakura's 'room.'

"We need to report this to the Hokage now, Naruto. She wouldn't want us to go too far," Yamato said.

"Yes, she would. This is Sakura. She would do anything to get her back," Naruto growled through gritted teeth.

Kakashi sighed.

"Let's go back to Leaf. I'm sure she will assign us again with more details about recent Akatsuki sightings," Kakahi comforted.

Naruto exhaled as he tried to calm himself.

They all soon jumped down out of Ame and into the trees headed for Leaf. The Hokage would not be amused.

* * *

**Sorry for such a short chapter. I was writing and it took me a long time this time, for some reason. Anyway, I was writing and I found it was really late. I have to wake up early tomorrow for school. Ugh! Goodbye and see you next chapter. :)**

_"In three words, I can sum up what I know about life: It goes on."_

_-Robert Frost_


	7. Chance

**Bonjour! Hola! Moshi Moshi! Hello! Ummm... and a bunch of other languages. Soooo, anyway, here's chapter *drumroll* 7! Not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, or 9, but 7! Ah! So many numbers! I'm sorry and i'll try to not hurt your brains anymore, my fellow readers. Hmmmmm, let's see. Do I have any news for you today? I noticed that some people (in their author's notes) are saying that they're mad when they write their stories and stuff. *_Gasp_* Just so you know, if I am writing a chapter, it means that I am unusually happy at the moment. I don't want you to suffer through constant threats and stuff. I know, I know. Random. But who cares! Hulk Smaash! _*crash, bang* _oh sorry. This kinda contradicts my whole 'be happy' sentence. *_Sigh* _Whatever.**

_"If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it."_

_~Edgar Watson Howe_

_**New Beginning **_

Bowmangirl123

_Chapter 7_

_Chance_

**You are dismissed to scroll down now. Congratulations!**

* * *

Sakura looked through blowing pink locks to see that Deidara had indeed, spoken the truth. This was another Akatsuki base, by the looks of it anyway.

The long coastline and cliffs told Sakura that they were in the Lighting Country. That was all she knew in her predicament right now.

_Not really a reliable source of information that I have right now about Akatsuki bases. _

She sighed.

Since she was currently in Deidara's arms, he felt it and looked questionably at her.

She also noticed his eyes on her, but she didn't want to look up at him.

Noticing that she was not in a good mood, he deciding not to push it any further.

"Can you run now, yeah?" Deidara inquired.

She silently grunted and nodded.

He let her go and true to her word, she was able to run. It took her a step or two to balance and another couple to speed up, but she eventually was off again.

Feeling some chakra back in her aching legs, she was able to keep up until Pein announced that the base was near.

The Akatsuki and Sakura slowed and took precaution as they made their was to the smaller, yet big enough to easily occupy the Akatsuki and more.

Apparently this base is not known by any others to be the Akasuki's, because it was in the middle of a hilly field. The coast and a few mountains were still visible on both sides.

It would be really beautiful and pristine view if there wasn't a bunch of big Akatsuki men in the view, no matter how good looking they were.

A final leap brought them to the tall doorway of the base.

Once again, the doors were locked inside and out by that ring that the Akatsuki members wore.

They eloquently opened the door after a short glow of the rings.

This base was plainly decorated in the inside. A layer of dust settled on the bare furniture. Like the other base, there was a hallway connecting rooms.

Also like the other one, a small room labeled 'Medical' occupied a space next to the bedrooms.

She was going to take a peak at it at the other base, but she never had the opportunity.

She was also given a room in this base and the same rules applied. No matter how hard the situation seemed, she was determined to find a way to escape.

* * *

After days of travel back to the Leaf, Naruto and his team leaped down from the trees onto the solid ground.

Naruto didn't say anything for the whole time, and Kakashi watched him moodily sulk, disappointed.

They reached the gates and headed for the Hokage tower. Seeing that only a few had to go, only Kakashi, Naruto, Sai, and Yamato were the only ones who went inside.

ANBU escorted the four into the head room, belonging to the Hokage herself.

The Kyuubi container was the first one to arrive in the room, with his head down, blond hair covering his face.

The other three piled in to see an exhausted looking Hokage sitting lazily in her chair.

_See must have had a lot of sake. She taking this almost as hard as Naruto._ Kakashi thought, and silently sighed.

His shoulders sagged.

Sensing that no one was going to say anything soon, Yamato started. "We were unable to locate Sakura."

Tsunade's bloodshot eyes shot up and back down. She knew, but hearing the confirmation of it was too much.

She sighed and dared a glance at Naruto, unable to see his face.

"Have there been any recent Akatsuki reports of location?" Kakashi asked.

She immediately shuffled through papers to see if there was anything she missed relating to Akatsuki.

She had been reading through them for the majority of the day and found nothing of the Akatsuki.

Looking through the last paper, she looked back up at them.

"There was a report of them near Shimo, but that was several days ago. They are most likely far away from there in an unknown direction."

Naruto gritted his teeth in pure anger.

Tsunade witnessed this and looked back at her papers.

"Looks like you need another mission. This time just Naruto and Kakashi will go. Tomorrow morning would be good. You need time to rest." She paused a moment. "I do not need to remind you again about the Akatsuki wanting you, Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

The Kyuubi container looked up at her, a tiny shred of hope lingering in him for being sent on another mission. He shook his head.

"You are dismissed. Kakashi, please stay back. I need to talk privately to you."

Kakashi nodded and the others shuffled out of the bright room.

"The details on the mission?" Tsunade asked.

And so Kakashi explained.

* * *

The sun shone brightly through the window, and the smell of saltwater filled her senses.

_Too bad I can't go out and do anything. _

Deciding not to spend the day laying down and being lazy like Shikamaru, she walked out into the main room.

Deidara and Tobi had left to get food in the village closest to their current location, traveling on Deidara's bird.

Pein was somewhere inside with his partner, Konan. Itachi and Kisame were outside sparring with one another.

This left her freedom the medical room.

She snuck out of her room and ran into the medical room.

She didn't need to sneak around, since she was allowed to walk around, just not outside, but it was just a habit. With a bunch of dangerous S-class criminals, sneaking comes naturally.

The door was slightly ajar, so she didn't use much force to open it.

The dimly lit room was covered in dust, every square inch.

Thinking back, Sakura knew that the Akatsuki never really had a real medic, so she wondered why they had a medic's room.

Looking through the antidotes, herbs, and other equipment, she thought about that plant guy.

_Zetsu?_

Yea. She knew that he had a garden from the other base and there were several plants in it. At least that's what she heard from Deidara.

_He couldn't possibly be a medic. He's a spy. Well, all I know is that he has medicinal herbs along with a lot of other less pleasant flora._

Searching through any useful items, she found a couple things that would help with common illnesses.

Her chakra could heal about everything else, but she would keep this place in mind if she ever got hurt.

She was too intrigued that she didn't hear the incoming footsteps.

A blue-haired woman, that she learned the name was Konan, walked in.

"Pein would like to speak to you," she said calmly.

Sakura gulped and nodded. She followed her until she was on the outside of Pein's room.

She took a deep breath and made her way inside.

* * *

**Sorry for the cliffhanger. Well, I was in the middle of writing this and I got distracted, again, and I felt an urge to play football. So I did. I was going to make this longer, but I have to end for the night. Good day for those of you who are reading this during the day. Good night for the others of you. Bye for now. **

**~Bowmangirl123**

_"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."_

_-Maria Robinson_


	8. Surprise

**Hey guys (and gals), I'm back. Sorry for such a long wait. I'm in the middle of finals and a bunch of other crap that goes on at the end of the school year. This is like the first day that I got home before 6:30 PM. I eat dinner, do homework, take a shower, and collapse on my bed. Sorry, but blame my teachers. Anyway, this most likely, will be a fluff chapter, but who knows. **

_"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson."_

_-Tom Bodett_

_**New Beginning**_

Bowmangirl123

_Chapter 8_

_Surprise_

* * *

Sakura didn't let that breath of air that she didn't know she was holding until she saw Pein's face. She expected him to be either A) about to kill her, B) about to hire someone else to kill her, or C) about to torture her and then eventually kill her. Either way, she didn't have a good feeling in her gut.

He motioned for her to sit in a sit across from himself and she did without hesitation.

In only about a second or two of looking into those ringed orbs, Sakura felt a thin layer of sweat form on her pale skin.

A sudden sound of a closed door gave Sakura an excuse to look away from Pein, just to see Konan come in and sit in a chair on the other side of the room.

She looked back at Pein and was relieved to find that he had opened his mouth to talk.

"I see that you found the medical room," he said knowingly.

She nodded.

"I also see that you are a medic, yourself."

Another nod.

"As you know, we have no medic-nin in the Akatsuki at the moment," his eyes bore deep.

Sakura gulped. _This can't end well. _

"Since you really don't have a choice in the matter, I will tell you now that you will become the Akatsuki medic," he added bluntly.

Sakura just stared, wide-eyed, until something snapped inside of her.

"I would never willingly help the Akatsuki! You guys are monsters! I would rather die!" she was shaking now, not in fear, but in fury.

Pein sighed, already knowing her reaction.

"That can be arranged. Unfortunately, you are the only medic here and we can not kill you currently. But you still have to become the medic."

Sakura growled, but soon silenced as his Rinnegan bore through her again.

"You are dismissed," Pein stated. Sakura didn't need to be told twice, because the door was opened and closed within seconds, Sakura on the other side.

She fell onto her bed with a grunt. _I love being a medic and I love healing people, but these aren't people. These are cold, heartless freaks! I would never heal them._

She laid on her bed, reviewing escape plans and other plans. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

The morning struck and Naruto was already up and dressed. He didn't sleep well, being worried for Sakura.

His breakfast, consisting of instant noodles, was quick.

Before the sun was completely risen, Naruto was already waiting in front of the Hokage Tower.

Knowing that Kakashi would be late, Naruto sat down on the concrete and thought more about Sakura.

Ten minutes later, a sleepy Kakashi strolled up to the Hokage Tower.

A short exchange of looks happened before they jumped from their spot to find their way into the trees, surrounding Konaha.

* * *

A tired Neji and Lee arrived in the door of the Hokage, minutes after Naruto and Kakashi left, scroll still in hand.

ANBU granted them access to the Hokage. They opened the door slowly and found the Godaime in another hangover.

She grunted and cracked her eyes open, wincing only slightly.

The scroll was handed off after a short bow from the two shinobi.

She pushed aside her other papers to make room to put the scroll down properly. A short jutsu granted her access to the information inside.

Tsunade unrolled the scroll and bit her lip. Not knowing what it said, both Lee and Neji were not happy with her reaction.

An almost empty sake bottle found her attention and she finished it off with one sip.

Taking another look at the scroll, she tried her best to keep a calm composure.

"You two are dismissed. Thank you, and rest now. You need it," she said, earning two nods from them.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

The door closing, the Hokage panicked.

* * *

Sakura left her room some time during the day, and was now sitting in the kitchen, absentmindedly fiddling with a spoon in her tea.

She wasn't alone long when a large bang and door opening told her that Deidara has arrived.

She sighed for the umpteenth time that day and looked at him.

Apparently, he had been sparring with the others, because he was full of scratches and bruises, some worse than others.

"So, you the new medic, yeah?" he interrupted her gazing, or gawking.

She grunted and turned back to her tea.

Deidara noticed this, but paid little heed to it. "Well then, I think I need healing," he added.

"I'm so sorry," she said sarcastically.

Amused, he kept pushing her. "Awww, come on, yeah," he said with an almost murderous look in his blue eyes.

Knowing that she was amusing him, and would have to heal him eventually, she got up and walked to the medical room, motioning for him to come.

He did and immediately sat down like a little kid ready to get a lollipop.

Her hands glowed green and she started healing the more serious ones, until he looked like his old self.

She was almost finished until she noticed that he had a busted lip. Knowing that he would complain at the end if she didn't fix it, she brought her hand to his mouth and healed it.

Little did she know, that he was moving his head back so that she was leaning over him in a rather... strange position.

Moving his head forward, he never stopped watching her intently as she inspected him.

Too busy in her medic mind, she didn't even realize that he was only inches away from her face now.

She suddenly jerked away, and he realized that Tobi was at the door, waiting to be healed too.

Deidara suddenly felt the need to strangle that boy... always getting in the way.

He stomped out of the room without another word and shoved Tobi on the way out.

Tobi just looked back and jumped up on the same table that Deidara sat moments ago.

Sakura sighed again and got to work.

* * *

***Wipes sweat* Ok, there ya go. Another chapter... done. Sorry if it's a little short, I can't type for hours a day. I have a bunch of other work to do. It's late now, so this is going to be short. I missed you guys and fanfiction, but I'm back, so don't worry. I can't tell you when the next chapter is going to come out because of finals, as stated above, and other stuff. See you next time,**  
**~Bowmangirl123 **

_"Life is like a party. You invite a lot of people; some go, some join you, some laugh with you, some didn't come. But in the end, after the fun, there would be a few who would clean up the mess with you. And most of the time, those were the uninvited ones."  
__— Unknown_


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